Most CVs are reviewed in seconds, not minutes. That first scan often determines whether a candidate moves forward or not.
After the success of our recent workshop on how hiring managers read CVs, our speakers Elena Topalova, Lead Talent Partner, and Dimitar Kokotanekov, Senior Talent Partner at Pwrteams Bulgaria, are revealing some of the insights they shared with the participants.
A CV serves as a key professional document within the job application process. It is an initial point of reference for hiring managers and is frequently consulted throughout the recruitment process. Therefore, in this edition of our Career insights series, Dimitar Kokotanekov shares more about the main components of a successful CV and the role formatting and design play.
Your CV is a brief and informative overview of your skills, education and work experience, aiming to highlight your strengths and differentiate you.
Even at senior levels, job titles alone may not always reveal the impact or results achieved. Therefore, a CV should clearly communicate the value delivered, ensuring that the reader doesn’t have to guess.
Recruiters and hiring managers really do move fast in early screening. In everyday business life, the initial review can be just a few seconds on average. Regardless of the exact number, the takeaway is simple – your CV must be instantly scannable and relevant.
From a hiring manager’s perspective, the goal is not to read everything, but rather to quickly understand whether your profile matches the role.
As you proceed with this article, I encourage you to consider the following questions:
Are you able to clearly articulate the value of your professional contributions?
Does your CV effectively connect your daily responsibilities to broader business, team or customer outcomes?
Have you tailored your CV to align with the specific requirements of each role you apply for, or do you send a standard document for all applications?
When preparing your CV, the emphasis should be on clarity rather than length, ensuring that your profile matches the requirements for the role you’re applying for. A good job ad and a good CV are mirrors. A job ad outlines the company’s requirements and what it offers, while the CV presents what you offer and what you’re looking for next. When the mirrors match, your chances of progressing in the process increase.
Here are the main components of a well-structured CV and what they should include:
1. Summary
The summary should contain 4–5 lines that immediately answer the following questions:
In this section, personalisation is easiest and most powerful. By reviewing the job description and identifying key themes (scope, technologies, domain, seniority expectations), you can tailor your input to address these elements directly.
Strong vs. weak summary
Below are two examples – one strong (specific, credible and tailored) and one weak (generic, “nice sounding”, but empty).
Strong example:
Why it works? It’s concrete, with a clear professional identity, and outcome-oriented. This is exactly what senior hiring managers want to see.
Weak example:
Why it fails? It’s not false, but it’s not informative. The summary lacks substance and precision. There’s no scope of responsibility, no domain expertise and no concrete achievements to support the claims. Phrases like “skilled in various technologies” and “enjoys solving problems” are too generic and could apply to nearly any candidate. It also misses directional intent. There’s no indication of what kind of role or impact the person is aiming for next. Without metrics, outcomes or alignment to a business context, the reader is left guessing about the candidate’s actual value. Ultimately, it signals minimal effort and does little to differentiate or inspire confidence.
Work experience
For experienced engineers (particularly those at mid-level and above), the work experience section is the heart of the CV. It should be presented in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent position.
Present each role as a concise case study, rather than simply a job description copy/paste.
For each role, aim to include the following:
These bullets should demonstrate responsibilities and achievements, ideally with quantifiable results, and the job description should guide what you emphasise.
A change we often suggest to candidates is turning “standard activities” into “personal contribution”.
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A simple and effective approach is to use strong action verbs and include results where possible1.
3. Education
Education is important, but it should be presented in a way that reflects its relevance to the position being applied for.
A strong rule of thumb:
4. Skills
The skills section helps quickly match your profile to the role requirements:
A suggested structure is to organise skills by categories, for example:
Use the job description as a guide, avoiding excessive keyword repetition. LinkedIn’s resume guidance explicitly frames tailoring as aligning your skills and language with the requirements of the posting2.
5. Additional sections
These sections are optional, but powerful when used well:
This section allows you to demonstrate your unique qualities without turning your CV into a biography.
Great content can be overlooked if a CV is difficult to read. The opposite is also true - a clean layout can elevate good content because it makes it easy to notice.
1. Formatting and design
Here’s a practical guidance:
2. A practical view of ATS and automated screening
Many companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to organise and filter applications. And understanding it is essential for recognising the importance of certain formatting and tailoring strategies. An ATS is often used to:
What ATS struggles with? ATS platforms and parsing tools often encounter difficulties with complex visual formatting – tables, graphics, text boxes, columns and unconventional layouts. SHRM explicitly advises job seekers to avoid complicated graphics and formatting elements for ATS review3.
Additionally, many systems support auto-reject rules based on application question answers, commonly referred to as “knockout questions”. For example, platforms such as Greenhouse and Workable document features that automatically reject or disqualify candidates based on how they answer configured questions (e.g., work authorisation, location, required qualification).
A strong CV does not need to tell your whole career story. It needs to make your value easy to understand. When your experience is clearly structured, tailored to the role and backed by concrete outcomes, you give hiring managers a reason to keep reading and invite you to the next step.
In the next part of this Career insights series, Elena Topalova will look at some of the most common CV mistakes candidates make and share practical ways to avoid them. Stay tuned.
Ready to put your CV to the test? Explore our current vacancies and apply for a role that matches your experience.
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